Soup, Anyone?

Every year Ken buys as many turkeys as he can when they're on sale and puts them in the freezer. We were getting low on freezer space so we started to pull out leftover turkey carcasses to add to the one he just smoked for Christmas. There were seven. Seven..whole..carcasses..to be used for soup. I guess I didn't monitor Ken well enough because last night he grabbed our biggest pot and threw them all in. Brilliant.

I can tell you this though. Early this morning, when I heard him in the kitchen starting to pull the meat off the bones, I pretended to sleep for as long as I could. He did come in to check on me a few times and see if I was up yet. But I wasn't having it. I wasn't going to spend hours going through meat and bones from seven turkeys. So I mumbled something about needing my rest from being sick...

He did an excellent job though and the soup turned out great! Hope we don't get tired of it! Let me also say that I managed to disappear when it came time to ladle the soup into containers. I didn't want any part of that either. But I cleaned while Ken did that part so it was win-win for both of us. Now we are both hanging out in the bedroom with the below picture portraying what still sits on the counter, waiting for the other to get up and find room in the freezer and put it all away. Could I be so lucky as to find something else to conveniently pull me away? Doubtful, but I can dream...

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

I couldn't find any ugly Christmas sweaters to wear for Christmas day. However, Ken came up with this brilliant idea to go buy some cheap sweatshirts from WalMart and make our own. The rule was that Ken got to make one for me, and I got to make one for him, with no questions asked. Ken made a truly ugly Christmas sweater for me. I, on the other hand, think I may have found a new calling and might go into business for myself next season. Here is where we started:

The front of Ken's sweatshirt had Rudolph and the other reindeer with Santa's sleigh, candy canes, and a gorgeous Christmas tree decorated in jewels with presents beautifully nestled underneath. The front of my sweatshirt was Santa made from a snow leopard cut out from a different WalMart shirt (again, the rule was that no questions could be asked), using the tassels and the eyeballs. He decked out the tassels with beads, gave Santa purple brows and a pink nose, and added our names to each sleeve.

I added iron-on wings to the back of Ken's sweatshirt. On mine, he painted a Christmas tree with fire coming out of the trunk, a dog with a pile of steaming poo and paw prints (I wish I had a close-up of that), and suns/hearts with wings on each elbow.

Let me tell you this: I wore that sweatshirt the entire day - stiff paint, beaded tassels, and all. I didn't think I would last because I was sick (bummer), but I made it work. However, I could not stop staring at Ken's sweatshirt and patting myself on the back, so maybe that got me through. We had an absolute blast with each other making these on Christmas Eve. Merry late Christmas everyone!!

A Christmas Carol...Er--Um, Story

My parents treated Ken and me to "A Christmas Story" play last night. It was a lot of fun and very well done! Lots of laughs were shared and I absolutely loved when Flick's tongue got stuck on the pole. Ken couldn't get over how the narrator was able to memorize all of his lines and I was really impressed with the stage set changes. My dessert at intermission was pretty tasty, too! Sorry for the bad iPhone pictures. I wish I could have taken some during the play!

A Pinterest "Do"

I started the morning off right with a fancy Christmas drink made specially for me by Ken and some cinnamon roll waffles (found on Pinterest). They weren't bad, albeit a bit dry...but they were so easy and I cut out all that wait time usually spent baking them in the oven. Because ten extra minutes is a long time to wait when you're hungry. Right?

Also, is "specially" even a word? And did I use "albeit" right? Ever since my embarrassing mishap (even mishap doesn't look right) on Facebook where I posted the wrong name of the play I went to with my family, I am "especially" cautious.

Road Warrior

Well, sort of. At least I think I am. I drive a lot for work and used to stop for fast food or gas station snacks. I would fill up on crap: convenient, fast, and tasty. Easy to eat while still driving. Did I mention that it tastes good? However, packing last night's clean eats is easier on the wallet. And hips!

The one downside is that I have to sit in my car and take the time to eat safely (rice is hard to eat while driving, been there and done that!). Hence the time to write this up while I eat my grilled pork chop, brown rice, black and garbanzo beans, and an orange. What?!?!

Tip of the day: peel your orange before you leave, even if you are running behind. It will save you from an outfit decked out with orange peel and juice that will inevitably squirt all of the place. Car smells good though. Also, buy your oranges from Sam's. They take steroids.

Fog Walk

Took the pups for a walk in the fog this weekend. Not a soul was out because visibility was zero - so we took full advantage. Little Miss Haley didn't stop running except for this one squirrel she treed (see pic below). She dies for park walks and it's fun to watch her zig and zag as different scents catch her sniffer. Sky, on the other hand, learned to pace herself a long time ago...

Progress

Well, it seems that Sky and the cat are making progress in their relationship. Maybe they have group meetings while we are gone and are working on their differences.